More From NBC

Congress: Manchin-Toomey talks on guns

“Talks between two influential senators have emerged as the most promising route for a bipartisan breakthrough on expanding federal background checks for gun buyers, a pivotal part of President Barack Obama’s plan for combating gun violence,” AP writes. “One possibility being discussed by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., would involve expanding background checks to gun show sales and firearms transactions online, Senate aides said. Sales between close relatives and temporary transfers between hunters may be excluded, but an agreement along those lines could give Obama’s guns agenda a significant boost and would be a major expansion of the current system, which covers only sales handled by federally licensed gun dealers.”

Another AP story: “If completed, the effort could represent a major breakthrough.” Manchin and Toomey “could nail down an accord early this week.”

“Sen. John McCain warned on Sunday that North Korea's latest round of provocation could unintentionally lead to war if Kim Jong Un makes too big a misstep,” Politico writes. McCain said: "More than once wars have started by accident and this is a very serious situation.”